Parental leave on the rise

Paternity leave is becoming more and more common. Since 2015, there has been a push to expand paid time for new fathers. Large companies such as Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson have been increasing paternity leave or general gender-neutral paid leave programs.

Along with them, at least 15 other big employers have followed suit in the past year. Only one, Hilton, offers the minimum of two weeks, while Netflix offers as much time as the parent needs. Others have programs that span anywhere from 6 to 26 weeks.

While this means that paternity leave is becoming less unusual, it does not mean that it is the norm. According to surveys by the Society for Human Resource Management, less than 20 percent of employers in the United States offer paid paternity leave.

At the same time, however, having the leave does not mean it will be utilized. A Deloitte survey says only 36 percent of men would take such leave. They cite being afraid they will lose their job as the reason why. In addition to "jeopardizing their position" at work, 41 percent said they thought they would lose opportunities for assignments at work, and over half of the over 1000 respondents said they believed spending time with their new baby would be looked at as lack of commitment to their company.

RELATED: Career skills you need

16PHOTOS

top 15 most valuable career skills

See Gallery

top 15 most valuable career skills

#15: IT security and infrastructure Pay premium: 3.7 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#14: Business analysis Pay premium: 3.8 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#13: SAP material management Pay premium: 3.9 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#12: Risk management/risk control Pay premium: 3.9 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#11: Financial analysis Pay premium: 4.0 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#10: Customer service metricsPay premium: 4.3 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#9: Technical sales
Pay premium: 4.3 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#8: Strategic planningPay premium: 4.3 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#7: Strategic project management Pay premium: 4.4 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#6: Software development Pay premium: 4.9 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#5: Contract negotiation Pay premium: 5.0 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#4: Data Modeling Pay premium: 5.0 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#3: Search engine marketing Pay premium: 5.0 percent​

Photo credit: Getty

#2: Data mining/Data warehosing Pay premium: 5.1 percent

Photo credit: Getty

#1: SAS (Statistical Analysis System)Pay premium: 6.1 percent​

Photo credit: Getty

Up Next

See Gallery

Discover More Like This

of

SEE ALL

BACK TO SLIDE

SHOW CAPTION
+

HIDE CAPTION
–

Other statistics of the survey, however, may prove their point. Over half said that they would judge another father for taking the same amount of time off as a mother.

It might take a while for American "culture" to shift in order for paternity leave to be acceptable.

The head of Deloitte's Women Initiative, Deepa Purushothaman, said, "It's something, as a culture, we need to stress and make easier to do."

One father famously took paternity leave: Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg took two months off after the birth of his daughter, Max. "Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families," he said of the decision.